March 6 (Bloomberg) -- Philippine stocks rose, driving up
the benchmark index the most in a month, as more companies
reported an improvement in earnings.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., the nation’s
biggest company by market value, rose to a five-year high. The
stock climbed 2.3 percent yesterday after reporting a sixfold
jump in quarterly profit. Aboitiz Power Corp. added 3.1 percent
to a record after the company said today that 2012 net income
increased 13 percent to 24.4 billion pesos (599 million). Ayala
Land Inc. climbed 4.8 percent, leading gains among developers,
after the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that property
inventories are growing faster in Manila than most other Asian
cities as demand increases.

“The earnings coming out have been good and so far there
has been no major disappointment, giving the market support,”
Allan Yu, who helps manage the equivalent of $10.9 billion as a
fund manager at Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., said by phone.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index increased 1.8 percent
to 6,835.21 at the close, its biggest advance since Feb. 4. The
gauge has surged 18 percent this year, the most among the
largest Asian benchmark indexes, amid expectations economic
growth will accelerate and the nation will win an investment-grade credit rating.

The Philippine gauge climbed 294 percent since October 2008
through March 5, making it the world’s biggest equity bull
market. That’s at least 134 percentage points more than every
other bull market in emerging and developed nations, data
compiled by Bloomberg show.

SM Investments Corp. climbed 1.9 percent, the biggest
increase in a week, after reporting today that 2012 profits rose
to a record 24.7 billion pesos.